Kombo Ventures • Daily Brief

Good morning, Steph

Friday, August 28, 2026 — Q3 Day 59 · Week 35
2 meetings before 1pm · Summer Friday OOO from 1pm · 4 action items · 1 new task (Cloudflare bug) · 1 hanging conversation (Shon · Klaviyo)
🔥
90°F
Heat Advisory
Los Angeles
Mon
24
Tue
25
Wed
26
Thu
27
Fri ▶
28
Sat
29
Sun
30
2
Meetings
4
Action Items
1
Hanging
Q3D59
Q3 Progress
📅
Today’s Calendar
11:30–12:00 PM
INH Weekly Amazon
Organizer Eileen. Recurring weekly Amazon sync w/ Sharon, Kevin, Lisa, Bunheng, Chevron, Janelle, Lukas.
12:00–1:00 PM
Internal Amazon TB — Kombo
Friday Amazon team business review. Weekly refresh race condition was fixed 8/21; a highlights-summary ask is still pending approval per prior notes.
1:00–6:30 PM
Summer Friday OOO — last Friday of August
Standing seasonal OOO block. No meetings scheduled after 1pm.
⚠️
Needs Your Attention
Email • Decision needed
Janelle forwarded “A Claude skill that dropped ACoS from 27% to 18%” — asked if it’s worth testing on Kombo’s ad data
To Steph, Chevron, Lisa (8/27 3:20pm). Janelle: “Might be interesting to test his Claude skill on our ad data and see if it has any recommendations.” No response sent yet.
Action Items — 4 active · verified Aug 28
New Today • High • Blocking
Fix Cloudflare “dangerous site” warning on dashboard login — live-reproduced twice (Jackie, Ellie), Mia unaffected
Then run one company-wide publishing training (not 1:1s) + write the SOP, per Steph’s own commitment on the AI Braintrust call. 868kxxvy3
Overdue • In Progress • High
Lock retail forecast models (Ulta / Target / Walmart) through YE’26 + Q1’27
Target was Jun 28 — well past due. Open-questions list for Michelle/Krista/Caitlin still pending. 868juw7qh
This Week • High
Schedule the weekly retail sync with Michael (planogram/shelf/expansion changes feeding the revenue forecast)
Lukas asked directly on the 8/25 weekly; Steph agreed but hasn’t put time on the calendar yet. Depends on Walmart/Ulta model review landing first. 868kx1xqb
Decision
Decide whether to test the Claude ACoS-reduction skill Janelle forwarded, on Kombo’s own ad data
See Needs Your Attention above — no ClickUp task yet, pending your call on whether it’s worth a trial.
✓ All 3 carry-forward tasks re-verified Open/In-Progress against ClickUp Aug 28. 1 new task created today (868kxxvy3). 1 consolidated as a comment on an existing task (868kx1xqb), not fragmented. 0 tasks dropped.
💬
Conversations Left Hanging
DM · 21h ago
Shon (Nahashon): “Is there anything I will need so I can start training Claude how to upload emails into Klaviyo? Are there any stumbling blocks?”
Asked 8/27 12:04pm PT — still unanswered. Steph replied in the same DM later that afternoon, but to a different question Shon asked afterward (Attentive/SMS connector setup), never circling back to this one. Open in Slack ↗
🛠
Yesterday’s Autonomous Actions — Aug 27 · Thursday
No autonomous actions logged yesterday — Thursday’s run was routine brief pipeline only (0 new ClickUp tasks created — no Steph-owned commitments found across 5 Dune Marketing Kickoff transcripts or the Amazon TB call; 1 hanging-conversation survivor surfaced but no task needed; no memory writes with lasting effect, no Roadmap edits, no drafted messages). Watch-flag checks and Step 3.5 verification catches are pipeline steps, not actions, and don’t surface here.
🚫
On Your Radar
📍 Roadmap watch: “How can Claude be more proactive?” · idle 111 days · next: schedule a 30-min session where Claude proposes 5 specific proactive moves
Auto-retire candidate · 111d
⏱ Watch Flag retire candidate — Gemini 3.5 Flash Live API (Day 100 not triggered)
100 consecutive days since 5/20. 3.5 Flash still has no Live API support (still on 3.1 Flash only). Clicky+ Roadmap independently flags this as moot — ready to retire whenever you are.
📧 Lisa shared “GLAMNETIC Branded Search vs DTC Spend — 8/21” spreadsheet (cc Kevin, Lukas)
Shared 8/27 4:28pm. FYI, no action requested in the share itself.
🌡️ Extreme heat today — high near 90°F, Heat Advisory in effect for LA
Applies to your 11:30am/12pm meeting commute if in-person; otherwise no action.
📰
Today’s Headlines — Fri Aug 28 2026
WorldIran says the Strait of Hormuz won’t reopen until the U.S. “corrects” its behavior; Trump says U.S. isn’t currently talking with Tehran and is focused on economic pressure instead
NatlJudge hears arguments in the fight to restore Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center
AIFederal judge rules the Pentagon’s “supply chain risk” label on Anthropic unlawful — First Amendment retaliation, ordered removed
UAPNothing notable in the last 48h — Pentagon’s 5th UAP file release was Aug 7, too stale to re-surface
📅 Friday 2-row view — Aug 27 (primary, bottom) · Aug 26 (dimmed, top). Click any value to copy. US DTC = US + Canada.
🇺🇸 DTC · United States — Glamnetic · Shopify (US+CA)
RP RevFT RevSpend
Aug 26$26,168$40,395$41,587
Aug 27 ☀️$25,695$41,342$43,875
Aug 27 Net Rev: $67,037 (RP+FT ✓)  ·  Spend: FB $31,867 · Google $3,416 · Other $8,592
🇺🇸 TikTok Shop · United States — Glamnetic · TikTok Shop (US+CA)
RP RevFT RevSpend
Aug 26$5,336$6,277$9,226
Aug 27 ☀️$9,542$8,179$11,582
Aug 27 Net Rev: $17,721 (RP+FT ✓)  ·  Spend: $11,582 (TikTok-native ad spend, no FB/Google breakdown)
🇬🇧 DTC · United Kingdom — Glamnetic · all channels
FT RevNet RevSpend
Aug 26$2,686$4,039$1,590
Aug 27 ☀️$2,419$4,052$1,674
Aug 27 Net Rev: $4,052 (RP+FT ✓)  ·  Spend: FB $1,182 · Google $0 · Other $492. Healthy — not underwater.
📦 Amazon · All Countries (US + CA + UK)
Net RevSpendTACOS
Aug 26$123,821$25,19220.3%
Aug 27 ☀️$131,854$27,01220.5%
Aug 27: net revenue up $8K vs Wed (US $117.9K, CA $9.9K, UK $4.1K), TACOS ticked up slightly (20.5% vs 20.3%) but still sub-21%. Via Omni Amazon Daily Report.
DTC via Omni (US = US+CA, split by sales_channel: Shopify = “.com”, TikTok Shop = “tiktok shop”)  ·  Amazon via Omni Daily Report (Net Revenue all countries). Layer 1 validation passed for all 4 tables both days (channel RP+FT = Net Rev; Shopify+TikTok = combined pre-split total).
👀Gemini 3.5 Flash Live✓ NOT triggered — 100 consecutive days (since 5/20). 3.5 Flash still has no Live API support. Strong retire candidate.
🤖
Anthropic / Claude busy 24 hours
⚖️ Ruling • Aug 27–28
Federal judge rules Pentagon’s “supply chain risk” label on Anthropic unlawful — First Amendment retaliation, ordered removed
Judge Rita Lin: the label was retaliation after Anthropic refused to remove Claude safeguards against autonomous-weapons/mass-surveillance use. Also flagged in Today’s Headlines. Source: CNBC, CNN, NPR, Forbes (Aug 27–28).
New • Email 8/27
Cowork: built-in browser access on by default, plus centrally managed connectors and shareable Artifacts
From Anthropic’s own “Two new ways to browse the web in Cowork, and 3 more changes” product email (8/27 7:25pm) — sitting unread in your inbox.
Preview
Model Hardware Standard (MHS) — research preview for Claude agents safely operating physical devices
Not yet released broadly; opened to a first group of research labs and manufacturers. Source: anthropic.com/news.
Released
Claude for Science expanded — 10,000 free/discounted team seats, broader AI-for-Science credits
Source: anthropic.com/news.
Infra
Anthropic signs $45B, 6-year compute deal with Nscale (~460MW, WV data center, Nvidia Vera Rubin from late 2027)
Secures future Claude/Claude Code capacity. Source: Bloomberg via TechStartups.
Released Aug 26
Claude Code v2.1.247 — adds SendFeedback tool + /claude-api cost-optimize
Profiles actual API spend, suggests caching/batching/model-choice savings. Source: GitHub releases.
🔵
Google / Gemini
Released
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe launches — real-time STT, filler-word removal, multi-speaker ID, 85+ languages, sub-second latency
WER 4.0% streaming / 2.6% non-streaming per Google’s own testing. Live via Gemini API/AI Studio. Comparison point if Fireflies transcription cost/quality ever comes up. Source: TechStartups.
Confirmed unchanged
Live API still only on Gemini 3.1 Flash Live Preview — 3.5 Flash not supported on Live API
Re-verified today via web search. Watch Flag stays accurate at Day 100. No indication 3.5 is landing on Live API soon.
OpenAI
Quiet cycle
No verified OpenAI news since yesterday’s brief
An “OpenAI targeting September IPO” item surfaced in initial search but traces to a confidential S-1 filing dated May 2026 — not new, dropped.
Action Items (AI)
Security note
A ransomware group used SpaceX’s Cursor agent (Claude 4.5 Sonnet) to breach 7+ companies by framing real intrusions as “security simulations”
Worth keeping in mind before granting broad Bash/network permissions to Claude Code or similar agents on production infra. Not urgent, just a pattern to watch for. Source: Reuters via TechStartups.
Try it
/claude-api cost-optimize in Claude Code v2.1.247+ — profiles real API spend, surfaces caching/batching/model-choice savings
Retire now
Gemini 3.5 Flash Live API watch — Day 100 NOT triggered. Ready to remove from Watch Flags.
Decide
Janelle’s forwarded “Claude skill that dropped ACoS 27%→18%” — worth a trial on Kombo ad data?
🌐
Industry
Unconfirmed • Reported
Nvidia reportedly agrees to buy Hugging Face for $12.9B — neither company has confirmed, no signed agreement yet
Deal could still fall apart per Business Insider. Source: TechStartups citing The Information/Reuters.
Earnings
Nvidia posts record $96.2B quarter, forecasts 70% AI-chip growth — data center revenue $89B (+117% YoY)
Source: Financial Times.
📌 19 Active✅ 44 Done⏱ Oldest: Life · “Send Logan the list app info” · 124d idle🕑 Added last 7d: 1 · Completed last 7d: 0⚠ 3 Leverage items 22d+ stalled
Leverage System 12 active · 44 done
Auto-retire candidate · 111d
How can Claude be more proactive? — oldest Leverage item, unmoved 6+ cycles
Park it or act: schedule a 30-min session where Claude proposes 5 specific proactive moves. Decision overdue.
Auto-retire candidate · 109d
GPT real-time embedded interactive dashboard experiment — unmoved 5 cycles
⚠ 97d
Execute custom slash commands (lesson 3) — held behind Lesson 2, recommended-parked twice already
42d
Confirm the two unclear connectors (Shopify + Amazon seller-ops analytics)
27d
Scope Cloudflare-vs-Surge before it’s forced — now live and urgent given today’s Cloudflare bug
Greenlit
Scribe v2 keyterms build — bias STT toward SKU/ASIN vocab from sku-master.json; also eval no_verbatim
Highest value-to-effort Clicky+ build per auto-memory. Also on the Clicky+ Roadmap below.
7d
Test Grok Imagine 2.0 — new capabilities check (added Aug 21, most recent addition)
🎤
Clicky+ current v16 (“Marin Local Control”) · last synced Aug 5
⭐ TOP PRIORITY • ~80% built
Claude Vision Mode — Phase 1: rolling screenshot history in conversation · Phase 2: continuous mode toggle
Claude brain + Marin vision. Also on the Leverage Roadmap above (added May 9).
⭐ QUICK WIN • GREENLIT Jun 25
Scribe v2 keyterms — bias STT toward SKU/ASIN vocab from sku-master.json; also eval no_verbatim
Highest value-to-effort on the board. Still unbuilt as of the Aug 13 tool sweep, which also surfaced a possible Argmax Pro SDK 2 shortcut.
In-flight
Flip VTT default Deepgram → Scribe v2 — pending a couple days of real-use confirmation
Needs a proper rebuild
Smart-corrections rule B (orphaned-correction trim) — too subtle for an inline prompt; needs a labeled-case eval harness
Watch • Retire candidate
Gemini 3.5 Flash Live API — NOT triggered 100 consecutive days (since May 20). Ready to retire.
🏗️
Kombo + Life 5 Kombo active · 2 Life active
Live today
Cloudflare rollout fix + training + SOP — new from today’s Action Items (868kxxvy3)
Overdue
Retail forecast lock YE’26 + Q1’27 (868juw7qh) — well past Jun 28 target, in progress
Active
Weekly retail sync with Michael (868kx1xqb) — not yet scheduled
Kombo · Automation
Audit current automation footprint · Visual QA agent for dashboards · Connect Shopify for NL queries (all added May 9–Jun 4, no movement since)
Kombo · Dashboards
Dashboard literacy habit · On-screen Ulta edit-submission widget
Life
Wristwatch that vibrates by compass direction (added Jul 16) · Send Logan the list-app info (added Apr 26, oldest item across every roadmap — 124 days idle)